The present invention relates to motion picture film and in particularly to a film patch therefor, a jig for applying the same to the film, and a method of using the same. The film patch can splice two ends of the film together and/or contain control information such that the patch can be readily located wherever inserted on the film and used to control functions associated with film viewing.
Advances in movie theater technology, and in particular changes in the film delivery method used in transporting film to and from the projector, have resulted in the need, first, to perform accurately and rapidly many splicing operations and, second, to locate rapidly the positions of the splices. Historically, commercial movie film has been distributed to theaters on reels which each contain about 1800 feet of film length. Each reel of film typically has a 20 foot leader section and a 20 foot trailer section, which respectively precede and follow the commercial film content. Since a standard 35 mm motion picture projector transports film at a linear rate of 90 feet per minute, each reel only provides approximately 20 minutes of viewing time. Accordingly, a commercial feature film may consist of up to six or more separate reels of film. In the past, theater projection rooms were equipped with two reel-to-reel projectors so that the film reels could be shown in sequence on alternate projectors without interruption. The rapid "changeover" between projectors was performed by a projectionist stationed in each projection room, who responded to visual cues displayed on the screen. The projectionist also attended to the preparation of each projector for its next use.
As theaters became automated, a new film delivery system was developed which provides for longer unattended playing time. In this system, widely used today in most modern theaters the film is placed on a horizontal-stacked tier containing several large "servo-driven" platters, each platter being approximately 52 inches in diameter. However, commercial film continues to be distributed on reels which only hold 1800 feet of film. In order to convert the reel film for use in the platter delivery system, the reel film is first prepared by removing from the program material all of the leader and trailer material on each reel of film as shipped, and then splicing the program material together so that it forms one continuous length of film. Complementary materials, such as "coming attractions," are also added at appropriate positions to this single length of film which now contains the entire theater presentation on one 11,000-12,000 foot length of film. Thus a projectionist is not required for each projection booth, at least not on a full-time basis (as would be the case if the projectionist had to change film reels on a frequent basis).
When the movie theater is finished with the film, the entire process must be reversed prior to returning the film to the distributor. The individual splices between each of the original film reels must be located and removed, and the leaders and trailers must be spliced back into their original positions. Since the splice material which overlays the film must be transparent, locating the splices along the 11,000-12,000 foot film length is a tedious and time consuming operation. To facilitate the location of the splices, many theater operators utilize a yellow tape having black stripes (known as "zebra tape") to mark the location of the splices. The presence of the zebra tape often interferes with the soundtrack and may also be visibly noticeable on the screen as it passes through the projector during the film presentation.
Prior art splicing techniques utilized in the commercial theater industry are not entirely satisfactory. In one technique, the film is placed on a splicing jig having four upstanding alignment pins, with the film sprocket holes registering with and being entered by the alignment pins, and a roll of transparent tape dimensioned to the film and having apertures corresponding to the film sprocket holes is then manually overlaid onto the film and alignment pins to form the splice. However, the tape must be delicately handled so that it simultaneously is registered onto the four alignment pins and placed in contact with the film. This technique tends to result in splices which have creases in the tape and entrapped air pockets. Another commonly used prior art technique was developed in Europe approximately twenty five years ago and is generally known as the "guillotine splicer". In this technique, the film is placed on a jig containing a die set. A roll of clear tape, having no perforations, is laid across the film and the dies used to punch holes in the tape in alignment with the sprocket holes of the film. The excess tape is finally sheared off from the film edges. However, after a month or so of use, the adhesive residues of the tape cause the die sets to become gummed up and the cutter knives to lose their edges. Often the perforations are not punched through completely, thus leading to misfeeding of the film through the projector.
Thus, the need remains for a film splicing technique enabling film to be accurately and rapidly spliced without gumming up of either the jig or the film sprocket holes with adhesive residues from the splicing patch, without creasing of the splicing patch or the formation of air pockets between the patch and the film, and optionally with means provided to enable the splice to be easily located for removal thereof (so that the film can be returned to separate reels) without being visibly noticeable during projection of the film or interfering with the functioning of the sound track.
The modern trend is to use either no full-time projectionist at all or a single projectionist for a plurality of different projection booths, so that the projectionist is not always available in a given projection booth to perform the various control functions or sequence of events which may be required in a theater--such as dimming or raising of the lights, raising or lowering a curtain, changing projection lenses, and the like. These functions or events are typically keyed to particular times during the projection of a film and hence to particular segments or frames of the film. Thus, there is a need for a control patch, somewhat similar to a splicing patch, which would be automatically detectable during projection of the film and enable the various control functions identified by the particular control patches to be automatically performed as the control patches pass through the projector. Such a control patch might be placed on the film either at the local movie theatre or by the distributor, the control strip having no effect in those local theatres of a distributor which are not equipped to utilize the same, but enabling the desired functions to be performed automatically (and even in the absence of a projectionist) in suitably equipped local theatres. Preferably, the control patch would contain the same information or data both in human-intelligible form and in machine-readable form, with both forms being so disposed on the control patch that they are not projected onto the screen by the projector light beam yet are visible to the projectionist and/or control machine under appropriate special lighting.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a film patch which can be used as a splicing patch to splice film and as a control patch to provide information which can be used to perform various control functions. As used herein, the term film patch shall mean either a splicing patch or a control patch.
It is another object of the invention to provide a film patch which is rapidly and accurately applicable to motion picture film without creasing of the patch, without the formation of air bubbles intermediate the patch and the film, and without introducing adhesive residue into the film sprocket holes or onto the jig.
Another object is to provide such a film patch which does not manifest itself on the screen or by interference with the soundtrack, but which manifests its location on the film under special conditions so that it can be easily and rapidly detected to facilitate removal of the patch from the film at a suitable time.
A further object is to provide a film patch containing machine-readable information for control functions readable under special conditions but ordinarily transparent to light within the visible range.
It is also an object to provide such a film patch which contains related information in human-intelligible form readable under special conditions but ordinarily transparent to light within the visible range.
It is another object to provide a jig for use in applying such a patch to a film.
It is a further object to provide a method of splicing utilizing such a jig and patch.